Is JoJo Siwa Climbing Cringe Mountain?

Hey Climbers, today —

• Is Dance Moms child star JoJo Siwa climbing Cringe Mountain?

• 3 books that will change your brain chemistry

JoJo Siwa’s Cringe Mountain

The child star to pop star pipeline has always been a long and winding road up Cringe Mountain.

Miley, Ryan Gosling, Selena Gomez; they all made the same transition. These days, people crown them as icons, somehow forgetting they once laughed at them for going through the climb.

In my opinion, there’s nothing new about about what JoJo Siwa - a child star on Dance Moms now making her move to become singer - is going through.

But what I feel bad for her about is now, the same climb up the same mountain is more public & scrutinised than ever before because of social media.

Between a questionable style rebrand, strange interview snippets and her claim she invented the genre of gay pop, there’s no escaping the ‘JoJo Siwa is cringe’ fodder scattered across the internet.

The general consensus being: she’s coming off as inauthentic. Like she’s trying to be someone she’s not. Perhaps taking advice from a team of marketers on what to act, look and be like, instead of acting, looking and being like herself.

But what I see is a very necessary part of the climb: identity trialling.

When you’re not sure who you are yet, how do you find out? You try on a bunch of other people’s identities first. You take advice. Then, after a process of elimination, you figure out your true identity.

Some people never go through this phase, and never find out who they are.

Anyway, all of this to say - I have no doubt that in 4 years, JoJo will settle into an authentic identity and be considered iconic like Miley and Selena. And people will forget they ever thought otherwise.

Save this email, and come back in 4 years and tell me if I’m wrong!!!

WEEKLY REC
These 3 books will change your brain chemistry

1. The Courage To Be Disliked

TLDR - What it’ll do for you: stop you letting your desire to be loved by others keep you from your dreams

If you’re a creative person sharing your message & work, here’s the truth: someone, at some point, is going to dislike you.

But if you can be at peace with this reality, you’ll become a FORCE!! Having the courage to be disliked is a superpower.

2. The Infinite Game

TLDR- What it’ll do for you: give you a growth mindset so you stop comparing, and never give up

Once you see your creative output as a game where the aim is not to win - but to keep playing - everything changes. You stop comparing and realise your only opponent is yourself. This book will show you how to do that.

3. 10x Is Easier Than 2x

TLDR- What it’ll do: teach you to think bigger so you don’t undercut your potential

The core idea of this book is that aiming for 10x growth can be easier than settling for 2x.

With 2x, you just burn yourself out by working twice as hard. Whereas with 10x you are forced to think of creative, inventive solutions. Because if you’re working hard, you may as well work hard on shooting for the moon.

CREATIVE INSPO OF THE WEEK
The Plastic Forecast

Did you know that because of plastic pollution, every time it rains, it rains plastic?

M&C Saatchi made The Plastic Forecast, a beautiful graphic that combines research measuring the plastic in our atmosphere with daily rainfall data to forecast how much plastic is set to fall on us every day.

Ok that’s all for now,

Til next time,

Keep Climbin’

Erica x